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Wednesday, February 08, 2017

An Uber driver who bought a £37,000 Mercedes explains why he's not
earning as much as he thought he would. No don't laugh 😂😂😂

An Uber driver has complained he's losing money on the service after being forced to take cheaper fares.

Glasgow driver David Dunn told a parliamentary select committee on Monday that he paid £37,000 for his Mercedes E-Class to drive on Uber Exec.

Uber Exec rides are targeted at business passengers and can cost almost double the standard Uber X fare. To justify the higher fare, drivers need to drive more expensive vehicles like Mercedes and Audis.

But Dunn said just 5% of his rides were Uber Exec passengers, forcing him to pick up cheaper Uber X fares.

Now, he said, he's stuck with the more expensive car, the associated costs, and not enough income. He added that after taxes and costs, he didn't earn minimum wage.

Dunn added Uber won't negotiate with him on its 25% commission, and adds that he can't refuse cheaper jobs. "If I refuse a job three times, they penalise you and switch you off."

A second, London-based Uber Exec driver, Syed Khalil, added that he had to work 40 to 50 hours a week to break even, and up to 90 to make a profit.

He said he had spent around £40,000 on an E-Class, which he was repaying in instalments. He said Uber charged him 27% commission.

"I have to pay £350 [a month] for car instalments, and you must pay £150 for private insurance, you must have that," he said. "Before you start the ignition and have one passenger, it's costing at least £500 a month. That's a fixed cost."

Khalil said he didn't earn minimum wage either and added that most drivers he knew relied on benefits for additional support.

Dunn said it was "very expensive" to work for the platform, and that a flood of new drivers restricted his earnings.

He said: "It's not great. It's got to the stage where it's very expensive for us to work.

"The number of drivers are restricting what you earned before. It's a great platform, no doubt. [But] it's the most expensive booking service for any driver. It's expensive for us, and cheap for the public."

Uber bottled it and wasn't represented at the committee, although it did put forward one driver with a more positive story.

We are the same £400 a week to go to work£200 cab £150 fuel tax.It's a minimum wage job and has been for the last 5 years.And you need some fucking Uber driver to tell you that.No wounded we are finished And they talk about £50k + for an electric cab..Dream on.

Driving a cab must be the lowest paid "trade" in London..3/4 years training for a minimum wage job. Having got some quotes for some work around the home recently, most tradesmen seem to be on anything from £150 to £350 a day- clear...With a day being about 6/7 hours work if your lucky..!

Taking £220 per day ?What planet you on..Most night drivers can't get £150 And that's from 5 til 1-2 am it's a fucking joke...If your getting £220 per day good luck to ya Take off £40 cab £20 fuel £10 tax you've done 9Hours work for £80 if your lucky.And it ain't just me there's about 10 mates all on the same boat.Young drivers with cab and mortgage payments must be out there 18 hours per day.6 days/nights per week.When them wankers at TfL gonna be dealt with ????

Anon 4:14You've completely missed Alan's point!Look at the original post he's referring to, his saying that these figures are TfLs figures not our.And that they actually believe this crap.

We know drivers ar struggling, we know the money TfL have cost our trade!But the truth is, they don't. At a recent tarrif meeting trade reps were astounded by the ignorance shown by TfL of the trouble this trade us in, financially. They honestly believe we are going to flock round to LTC to buy a new electric cab.

They (TfL, GLA, the Mayoral office and government) think we are still earning in relation to what we were a decade ago.

They don't see the bankruptcies, the marriage break up, the suicides. Drivers are flocking out of the trade, driving delivery trucks, working on the under ground, many gone back to previous occupations.But as hey hold on to their badges, TfL have no stats or data on this. The airport is at breaking point with 6 hour waits common....yes 6 hours.Ranks are full and COs spend most of their time clearing over ranking of black cabs.

London has become a living nightmare, and Khans message about London being open for business is no more than insulting.Our largest org looks like being bought don by angry members and so they are busy selling off real-estate to give themselves one final golden pay out day.

But worst of all, the trade is fragmented and broken with drivers turning on each other.

Then it's about time we made sure TfL got the message.For the last three years we should have withheld our income tax .Had 5 drivers protesting with placards outside Palistra hse The town hall and Goldman Sachs.And calling flash drive ins by social media.How much tax did Uber pay ???Macnamara and he's ilk are a fucking joke.Find a leader draw up a plan of war and stick to it.

Just signed up for a TX4 euro 6 £44000, to replace my 13 plate TX4, My heart bleeds mr Uber driver, you thought you could by pass the knowledge and steal our jobs via Ubend.You are all mugs for believing that shit firm you slave for.